NHL Awards At The First Quarter Mark

The NHL season is over 20 games in which means we're at the first quarter mark of the season and it's time to make some award predictions! Looking at stats (and even some advanced stats) and analysis of how players have played, we've come up with the following results for who would take home the major awards if the season were to end today. Sure this all means shit with 60 games to go in the season, but it's interesting to see what players have been award-worthy out the gate.

Undrafted Fantasy Young Guns

We're just over a quarter into the season and there's been some impressive young guns out there lighting up the NHL. The usual top incoming rookies were drafted in fantasy leagues such as Nathan MacKinnon, Seth Jones, Aleksander Barkov, and Jonathan Drouin (sucks if you drafted him before he got sent down) because of their names and star potential. With those big names off the board there were definitely some undrafted gems to be picked up who's numbers would be paying off big time for your fantasy team.

Wax Stain Rookie: Phil Esposito

Wax Stain Wednesday will be a regular feature on Dirty Dangle. Our pal Dave at Wax Stain Rookie is an avid autograph and card collector and has some cool experiences to share with us. Warning: these posts may make you want to buy a Beckett and get those dusty hockey cards out from under your bed that you hide from your girlfriend like a secret porn collection.

Last week we looked at Manon Rheaume's cup of coffee in the NHL and she has only one person to thank for her NHL appearance and they are the subject of this week’s autograph. True, Manon has had many factors and influences that turned her into one of the best female goalies on the planet during the 90's, but it was Phil Esposito who thought it would be a good idea to give her a chance to play for the Lightning.

Ranking The Seven True Goalie Goals

According to NHL records, 11 goalies have scored 14 goals in the NHL. Of those 14 goals, only 7 have actually been shot into the opposition net. The other 7 have been own goals by players, but credited to goaltenders under NHL Rule 78.4 in which "a goal shall be scored if the puck is put into the goal in any way by a player of the defending side. The player of the attacking side who last touched the puck shall be credited with the goal but no assist shall be awarded." In these cases, the goalie's made the save and an opponents shot the puck the length of the ice into their own net, usually on a delayed penalty or with an extra attacker on the ice. In our minds, these aren't true goalie goals. Do you really think Cam Ward brags about that time he scored a goal when Ilya Kovalchuk shot the puck into his own net? Probably not.

Who Is Peter Holland?

News spread quickly this morning when it was announced the Maple Leafs had shipped Jesse Blacker and two picks to the Ducks for Peter Holland and Brad Staubitz. At one point, Peter Holland was the #1 trending topic in Canada (welcome to Toronto, kid). It was no surprise that while out for brunch I heard a guy ask his friend, "who is Peter Holland?" As much as I wanted to turn around and drop some knowledge, I decided to finish my sky high french toast and listen instead. His friend told him he thought Holland was going to be a bigger and stronger version of Kadri - I definitely enjoyed listening to that conversation while my eyes almost rolled out of my head.

Tyler Seguin Scores 4, Doesn't Celebrate Like Joe Thornton Would Have

Tyler Seguin is off to a hot start with the Dallas Stars and helped pad his stats last night in a blowout against the Calgary Flames. In a 7-3 win, Seguin potted 4 goals and an assist, but unlike Joe Thornton would have, Seguin celebrated his goals in a way that would make Don Cherry proud:

Seguin has been clicking with Stars captain, Jamie Benn, since arriving in the Big D so it's no surprise that when Seguin scores 4 goals and 5 points that Benn is in on all of them and added another assist for 6 points total. The two have been showing some dynamic chemistry and sit 5th (Seguin, 22 points) and 7th (Benn, 21 points) in league scoring. If they keep it up and Team Canada's projected Sochi roster continues to lose players, they could be earning themselves two tickets to the Olympics in February. 

Don't Turn Around: Boarding Calls

After watching the Leafs and Canucks game last weekend and seeing the Leafs take a few boarding calls it got me thinking that this is a great way for teams to draw a penalty in today's game. Most of the time when a player has the puck they will shield themselves from the opposing player and protect the puck, but if that player is anywhere near the boards or spins quickly when he feels pressure there will be contact and chances are that player will get knocked down.

With the way the referees are calling penalties these days to protect players you can bet the refs will have no choice but to make that call. It's tough to know what the intention of the turning player is as they could be looking to draw a penalty or avoid a hit, but in the end it puts the player in danger like we've seen already this season. Take the Cody McLeod hit on Niklas Kronwall last month:

Kronwall even admitted the hit was mostly his fault and it resulted in a 5-game suspension for McLeod. Hockey's a fast game and when a guy is lining you up for a hit in the corner it's hard to slow up when a guy makes a sudden turn. Good on Kronwall for saying he put himself in a dangerous situation although McLeod could have tried a little better to avoid crushing him into the endboards.

Even last night we were reminded about the dangers of trying to avoid checks by turning as Seth Jones got plastered into the boards by Jamie McGinn. As much as McGinn left his feet, you can see Jones try and avoid the hit by turning away from it and placing himself in a dangerous position. Thankfully Jones was alright and remained in the game, but we want to see the kid play the season out as a Calder candidate and not on injured reserve. It's time for the NHL to circulate a highlight reel of "turns" set to Ace of Base for the safety of the players.

How Bright Is The Sabres Future?

This is a guest post by our brother, Jonas. He watches plenty of puck and loves to talk shop 

over a few beers so we thought we'd let him contribute his thoughts on Dirty Dangle.

The majority of hockey fans can agree that the Buffalo Sabres will be in the bottom of the standings when the regular season comes to a close in April. This should set Buffalo up for a top draft pick in 2014 and at the rate they're going we wouldn't be surprised if they were in the 2015 lottery as well. We can draw comparisons to other teams such as Pittsburgh, Chicago, and more recently the Edmonton Oilers who built their current rosters through the draft, but that means sucking for the better part of a decade.

Wax Stain Cup of Coffee: Manon Rheaume

Wax Stain Wednesday will be a regular feature on Dirty Dangle. Our pal Dave at Wax Stain Rookie is an avid autograph and card collector and has some cool experiences to share with us. Warning: these posts may make you want to buy a Beckett and get those dusty hockey cards out from under your bed that you hide from your girlfriend like a secret porn collection.

It's been a while since we have had a cup of coffee here at Dirty Dangle so this week let’s have a cup. In my first cup of coffee post I defined a cup of coffee as being a player whose NHL career consisted of less than a full season (80 games).  Normally it is hard to consider a player who has never actually played an official regular season game as being noteworthy; I think we can make an exception here for Manon Rheaume.

Bobby Ryan's "Broken Bat Homerun"

Bobby Ryan scored the hockey equivalent to a broken bat homerun today as he evened the score against the Dallas Stars with 10 seconds left on the clock. With the extra attacker on the ice, Ryan found himself alone in the slot for a one-timer and had his stick snap 3/4 of the way up the shaft as he shot. We've seen some frustrating stick breaks in those instances that usually end up in a blown chance to score, but Ryan's found its way through Vernon Fiddler and Kari Lethonen's legs for the goal. The only thing we're disappointed about is that Ryan didn't do a TMNT Leonardo cele: